1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method of developing a composition for powder molding capable of extracting compositional information on the composition applied to powder molding such as powder injection molding or powder extrusion molding of metal materials or ceramic materials.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In recent years, a lot of research on powder molding technology such as powder injection molding and powder extrusion molding of various metal materials or ceramic materials has been conducted for mass-producing with low production costs highly functional precision parts with complicated shapes because the precision parts are difficult to manufacture using a conventional molding technology such as a cutting process, precision casting, die casting, powder metallurgy, and the like, or has a price problem.
Generally, powder molding of metal materials or ceramic materials is performed in the order of a process of mixing a binder material with a metal or ceramic powder, a process of subjecting the mixture to injection molding or extrusion molding, a degreasing process of removing the binder material, and a sintering process of strengthening a bond between powders. For the powder molding method for such a metal or ceramic material, development of a powder-binder system for precision parts capable of easy removal of a binder material and exhibiting excellent fluidity for complex manufacturing on a larger scale and miniaturization of powder into finer particles is needed.
However, developments of most materials and processes conducted in the past have been made by very inefficient methods based on trial and error. As a result, these methods have exposed many problems. The most basic problem of the methods based on the conventional trial and error method is that it is practically impossible to search for the proper compositions since basically the range of the compositions to be searched is too wide for developing a binder essential for powder molding. For example, when a new composition for binders is developed by mixing 2 to 5 generally used main materials (lost wax, carnauba wax, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, etc.) with 2 to 3 auxiliary materials (surfactant, mixed inducing agent, reaction accelerator, etc.), approximately 104 to 108 experimental compositions need to be tested even when the corresponding additives are varied and within a range of 10% and tested, making it practically impossible to test the compositions using the conventional trial and error method. Also, the conventional methods having focused on the research of the compositions themselves, thus neglecting the optimization of subsequent processes such as degreasing, have resulted in the problem where the binder material cannot completely be removed when complex molded products of micro-powder are manufactured on a larger scale or small parts are manufactured using a nano-powder.
Therefore, to develop a composition for powder molding a metal or ceramic material that ensures a technical foundation for manufacturing complex products, there is an urgent need for a system for developing a novel binder material capable of overcoming the limitations of a strategy for developing a binder material depending on a trial and error method with no principles or impractical theoretical calculations and compensating for the drawbacks of these two approaches.